How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. (James 3:5b-6)
The word ‘tongue’ translates γλῶσσα glossa which, as in English, means both the organ of speech and speech itself, in other words, language.
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…If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
(Galatians 1:9)
Taken from the Anglo Saxon godes spell, ‘good words or speech’ the English language derives the word ‘gospel’. The Greek word translated ‘gospel’ is εὐαγγελίζεται euangelizetai, stands for the act of good speaking, literally communicating a good message. And for Paul, the message was sacrosanct and if any choose to deliver a different ‘gospel’, one did so at your eternal peril.
Twice Paul offers this imprecation at the beginning of Galatians. To Paul it was a serious matter to understand and communicate the gospel without deviation or corruption.
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And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God’. (Revelation 21:3)
John the Apostle receives a vision:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (ibid 21:1-2)
In this new earth, God will dwell with his people. The word ‘dwell’ translates a Greek verb σκηνόω skénoó, which literally means to camp, to live in a tent and in some versions is ‘to tabernacle’, referencing the Holy Tent in which God dwelt with his people Israel in Sinai.
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Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. (Romans 3:1-2)
Oracles are divine utterances, λόγιον logion. Paul is of course speaking about all Scripture, which was for him the Tanakh, the Law, Prophets and Writings, latterly called The Old Testament.
An oracle is prophesy, as seen in the Hebrew:
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The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.”
The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. (Deuteronomy 18:14-18)
In the second reading of the Law brought down from Mount Sinai, or Horeb, Moses brings a message from Almighty God. In this capacity Moses is acting as a ‘spokesman’. The Hebrew word translated as prophet is נָבִיא nevi and it means just that, one who speaks on God’s behalf.
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God Breathed Words 